The glitch allows for the player to skip a significant amount of gameplay. This includes skipping most of Midgar, and two boss battles; The Turks and Proud Clod.

In a speed run, this may save 10 minutes and 11 seconds.
(see below for the calculation)

Best of all, this Midgar skip is trivially simple to do. So it will become a must for all speed runners and low level challenges.

How to: Midgar Skip

1. On Disc 2, after defeating Diamond Weapon, fly to the Northern crater.
2. Hold the X button and Right directional button during the end of the Heidegger and Scarlet scene.
3. Keep holding X+Right until you see your party appear in the Hojo Midgar Mainframe scene.

All that needs to be done is to run for one frame during the load sequence of the Hojo Midgar Mainframe scene. However, it would be easier for speed runners to hold the buttons early. In a TAS, you can easily find this frame manually.

At the time of writing, it is not known exactly why this skip works. What we can say for certain is that the game allows input to be accepted one frame earlier than normal, and Cloud happens to be standing right near a field exit. So, holding X+Right causes Cloud to run into the exit; teleporting you to this field with Hojo. The controller input is allowed 1 frame earlier than under normal circumstances, allowing the glitch to take place.

Time Saved

1 Lolo’s boss strategy video2 Lolo’s boss strategy video3 Farringa’s speed run video. This may change significantly depending on many ‘random’ factors, such as number of steps taken, current danger value, and how many attacks the enemies get before the party escapes.

Invisible Cloud

An invisible Cloud is actually present in almost every field in the game. This is why the Midgar Skip works, as pointed out above. However, usually the invisible Cloud cannot move or enter the menu.

I found the flag which sets Cloud’s invisibility and disabled it. It is quite funny too see him in some of the scenes. Check out the gallery of images below with Cloud’s invisibility disabled.